Tribulation
Most religions anticipate a time beyond the present, when human history will be consummated by a decisive act of God. Evil will be destroyed and goodness will triumph. Millenarian teachings are most characteristic of Jewish, Christian and Islamic scriptures. Christianity began as a millenarian movement in Israel. Yet Hinduism, Buddhism and Zoroastrianism also contain teachings that the world is going through a cosmic cycle in which the decay of morals and religion presages a new Golden Age when life will be renewed and purified.
Millenarian beliefs can be a leavening influence on society, encouraging oppressed people with the hope that the evil system has finally reached its last hour and calling them to renewed faith or even to revolutionary action.
From the Bar Kochba Rebellion of Jews against Roman tyranny, to the T’ai P’ing Rebellion in China and the African Independent Churches’ agitation for independence against European colonial rule, these movements have fostered political and economic self-determination. Today, Father Moon’s teachings express that same sense of urgency and possibility, proclaiming that humanity is now living in the Last Days and that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.
However, these beliefs can also have a negative aspect if they lead people to become self-righteous and judgmental. Father Moon warns that all the judgments and tribulations of the Last Days will strike the people on God’s side earlier and more severely than non-believers, based on the principle that in the course of restoration it is for God’s people to be struck first.
Typically, teachings about the Last Days or the end of the world anticipate a course of events in three phases: First, a time of tribulation when evil and confusion will prevail; second, a Last Judgment when God intervenes decisively to destroy all evil; and third, a new age of unparalleled bliss, often called the Kingdom of Heaven.
During the tribulation phase, wars, famines, plagues, natural disasters and widespread confusion will afflict humanity. Morals will decline as people become engrossed in hedonism and materialism. Religions will decline, as the teachings of their founders will be forgotten or misused for mean ends. Father Moon affirms that humanity faces such tribulations, and traces its root to the Human Fall. The Last Days is a time when the fruits of the Fall are to be harvested, he teaches.
In some scriptures, the last tribulation will be the appearance of the Beast, the Antichrist or the Dajjal, who will deny the reality of God and deceive millions with a counterfeit truth. Identifying the Antichrist has been the subject of much speculation, most of it fruitless, often fixing on the church’s favorite opponent.
Father Moon sees the activity of Satan behind the dark forces in history and identifies several of the Devil’s stratagems to attack the people of God, including the rise of materialism and atheistic communism. Nevertheless, he reminds us that the first people to oppose Jesus were his own disciples; hence we should examine ourselves to see if we are not the antichrist, rather than blame others.